Manhattan Universal Pre-K Info Session Tomorrow

This week is a busy one. Not only does this week kick off Lent for millions of Catholics around the world, it also kicks off the Universal Pre-K admission process for thousands of NYC families.

Monday was the first day for accepting applications and the process will last until April 8, the deadline to submit the application.

Given that pre-school tuition can cost up to $24,000 a year in Manhattan, a lot of parents, including myself, will be applying for slots. Tomorrow, there will be a Manhattan Information Session at Louis D. Brandeis High School for city parents, which I hope will shed some insight and guidance on what to do, how to better my daughter’s chances of getting selected, etc.. Getting accepted to an NYC public Pre-K program isn’t a simple school registration process. It’s a competitive and dizzying ordeal to go through.

Case in point: Central Park East, a great school in East Harlem, had 157 applicants last year for the 18 slots it had opened. P.S. 158 in the Upper East Side had 341 applicants for 36 slots.

As if the odds weren’t challenging enough, preference is given to kids with an older sibling in the school. So parents like me who only have a single child have a slim to none chance of getting in.The second preference is applying to your zone. In my case, East Harlem, where slim pickings of good schools make it even more challenging for your child to receive a good education.

It’s a lot more depressing than it sounds.

Nevertheless, I’m taking the chance and hoping for a miracle that my daughter will be selected to go to a good school. For those of you parents who are fellow dreamers, click here to find out more.